Chapter 70 — The Last Seed Keeper

The knock on the door rang out just before the sun had risen, three short, decisive sounds, completely different from the two short, one long sound signal that the whole group had agreed upon — and Khe Mien, napping in her clothes still on in case she needed to escape at any time, jumped up immediately, her heart pounding.

"Not us," Bach Lam whispered from the doorframe connecting the two rooms, the knife already in his hand.

The knocking repeated, and this time, a soft voice rang out through the crack in the door. "It's me. Doanh Ba Thong. Open the door quickly, there's not much time left."

Khe Mien opened the door immediately, and Doanh Ba Thong's face appeared in the dim light of the hallway, tense and paler than the last time she saw him in the library. "Canh Ba Tuyen just received orders," he said, his voice urgent. "Order to 'temporarily detain' the Green Dome group for security reasons, pending further investigation into the allegations you made yesterday. They will arrive within half an hour."

"Temporary detention," Bach Lam repeated, his voice sharp. "Do you think that's really what they intended to do?"

Doanh Ba Thong looked at him for a long moment, and in his eyes, Khe Mien read the answer more clearly than any words. "I think," he said carefully, "once you've entered Geng Bo's interrogation room, there's no guarantee you'll come out with the same story, or even the same life, as when you went in."

Khe Mien felt all the blood in her body freeze, and immediately, she woke up Diem Quynh and Kien sleeping in the next room, signaling them to pack their things in absolute silence. Ngan The Binh woke up at the first noise, and he appeared at his room door ready with his backpack on his shoulder.

"Is there an unmonitored escape route?" Bach Lam asked Doanh Ba Thong, his voice was fast and matter-of-fact.

"There is an emergency exit for maintenance staff downstairs, leading to the Base Level area," Doanh Ba Thong replied. “From there, you can exit the Upper Arch through a side gate that is much less guarded than the main gate. But it will take you through the most densely populated area, and I cannot guarantee that no one will recognize you.”

"We will take the risk," Khe Mien said. "What about Cau Bach Thinh, Vom Cat group?"

"I warned his people before coming here," Doanh Ba Thong replied. "They will leave officially, publicly, because the detention order only targets the Green Dome group — perhaps because you are the one directly accusing them. Sand Dome still has diplomatic value that the Central Council does not want to give up immediately."

The group moved quickly after Doanh Ba through narrow and dark side corridors, staying away from areas with light from surveillance equipment, their footsteps were almost silent thanks to months of training on Dong Tro that had taught them how to move silently through dangerous terrain.

As they approached the emergency exit, a noise rang out from behind — running footsteps, fast and organized, with a flashlight scanning the hallway they had just left.

"They found out earlier than expected," Doanh Ba Thong said, his voice tense. "Go quickly, now!"

The group rushed down the narrow stairs leading to the Base Floor, and when they arrived, Khe Mien saw up close for the first time what she had only glimpsed from afar through the balcony two days before—the narrow, damp rows of houses, the weak artificial light that completely replaced the sun, and the tired faces of the people starting a new day of work, watching the group of strangers rushing by with eyes both curious and wary.

"This way," Doanh Ba Thong said, leading them through a maze of small alleys between rows of houses, until they reached a small side gate, guarded by just two soldiers who looked exhausted after a long night shift.

"I will talk to them," Doanh Ba Thong said. "You guys wait here."

He approached the two soldiers, and Khe Mien heard fragments of the conversation — Doanh Ba Thong's calm, authoritative voice, invoking the authority of a high-ranking observer who needed to escort a diplomatic delegation away from the Upper Dome under special orders. After a few tense minutes, the two soldiers nodded and opened the gate.

When the group stepped over the threshold, out of the shadow of the giant Upper Dome for the first time after three stormy days, Doanh Ba Thong did not go with them, he just stood inside the gate, his face carrying a strange calmness of a person who had accepted the price to pay for his decision.

"Aren't you coming with us?" Khe Mien asked, a sudden worry rising in her heart.

"If I disappear with you, they will immediately know I was the one who helped you escape," Doanh Ba Thong replied. "If I stay, I still have a chance, however slim, of continuing to be your eyes and ears inside the Upper Dome. That's how I can be more helpful, even if it's more dangerous."

“They will suspect you,” Bach Lam said, his voice carrying a sincere warning.

"They've been suspicious of me for a long time," Doanh Ba Thong replied, a thin, tired smile flickering across his lips. "The only question is whether they have proof or not. Let's go, before they realize this gate is open."

Khe Mien held his hand tightly for a brief moment, a gesture of gratitude that no words could fully describe. “If you need help, at any time,” she said, “Green Dome will not forget what you did for us.”

"Use what I gave you last night to do something meaningful," he replied. "That's all I wanted."

The group left soon after, moving quickly through the open land surrounding Upper Dome, toward the vast Dong Tro where they could hide from any pursuit. Only when the Upper Dome had shrunk to a distant point of light behind them did the group allow themselves to stop and rest, panting from the stress of their escape.

"We did it," Diem Quynh said, her voice both relieved and trembling.

“We survived,” Ngan The Binh corrected, his tone matter-of-fact as usual. "But we've also just made ourselves open enemies of the most powerful force in this entire region."

Khe Mien sat down on a large rock, looking toward the distant Upper Arch, clearly feeling the weight of what had just happened — not only the danger they had just narrowly escaped, but also the deeper meaning of this moment. She stood up, openly challenging the center of power that the entire post-Great Change world implicitly considered supreme, and now, there is no other way back than moving forward.

“If we cannot trust the Central Council to protect the vulnerable Arches,” she said, her voice ringing with a new determination, sharper than anything she had ever felt before, “then we will have to build something that can protect them ourselves. Not a forced treaty, but a true alliance, based on trust and sharing, among all those Arches who still dare to believe in another way.”

Bach Lam looked at her, a deep pride mixed with worry in his eyes at the scale of what she had just proposed. "It will be a mammoth task," he said.

"I know," Khe Mien replied, standing up, clutching the seed box tightly to her chest as she always did in decisive moments. "But I think about Trach Thi Hoa, about Xa Binh Nguyen, about Quac Thi Hien, about all the people who sat at that conference table with fear in their eyes but still found the courage to say no with us. If they can be that brave, I have no reason to back down."

Kien, walking next to Ngan The Binh with the appearance of a much more mature person than the trembling teenager who once asked whether people could be lost forever in the heart of the mountain, spoke up to break the silence that had lasted for a long time. "I think," he said, "after all I just witnessed, I understand better why you always say experience is more important than advice. No one can teach me how to sense danger in a room full of polite, smiling people. I'll have to stand there myself to understand."

Ngan The Binh looked at him, a rare expression of approval flashed across his seasoned face. "You learn faster than I thought," he said. "It's a good start for anyone who wants to one day lead the way for others."

Diem Quynh, hearing the conversation, smiled slightly even though fatigue was still clearly visible on her face. "Maybe this trip, no matter how scary, has taught us all something," she said. "I don't think I'll ever look at a big, fancy building the same way again. Now I'll always wonder who's paying the price, somewhere below, for that splendor."

The group continued their journey under the rising morning sunlight over Ash Field, leaving behind the giant silhouette of the Upper Dome and a conference that ended not in peace, but in a silent declaration of war between two opposing visions of the future — one of centralized control in the name of order, the other of the belief that true strength can only be built from the voluntary solidarity of the weak, standing together against the strong.